In general, filled bedding products, including featherbeds, are designed to provide increased comfort for sleeping. A variety of materials can be used for filling, although featherbeds are typically filled with water fowl (goose or duck) feathers. Featherbeds are usually positioned on top of the modern bed mattress and are typically much thicker than a traditional mattress pad, so as to provide additional comfort. In addition to comfort, however, featherbeds give the bed a consistent fluffy and inviting look.
Featherbeds have various sewing constructions, including a channel arrangement which runs the entire length or the entire width, i.e. from side to side, of the featherbed. Channel construction can also include baffles, which are fabric elements which extend between the top and bottom fabric layers of the featherbed within the individual channels. The channel/baffle construction basically divides the featherbed geometrically into a pattern of squares.
Other sewing constructions used with featherbeds include stitch sewing, which can include various sewn patterns, such as squares, diamonds or other shapes, and which individually connect the top and bottom fabric layers of the featherbed but are not connected together to form a continuous or repeating pattern.
Frame construction for featherbeds comprises channels sewn along the outer sides and across the top and/or bottom of the featherbed. Frame construction can be combined with sewn patterns if desired.
There are disadvantages to all of the above sewing constructions. Channel construction without baffles, as well as stitch sewing and frame sewing, allow the feathers within the featherbed to readily move or shift within the featherbed during typical use. Feathers ordinarily will shift to the top and/or bottom of the featherbed. The featherbed will as a result look uneven and its comfort will be compromised. While this can be remedied by fluffing and physical shifting of the featherbed, this is often inconvenient to do on a daily basis.
With the baffle construction, which is the most popular sewing construction for featherbeds, the baffle squares have an opening which runs along one edge of the baffle fabric wall inside the featherbed to allow for filling (blowing-in) of the individual squares. This is well-known in the industry. However, these “blow holes” in the baffles remain open after the filling is completed (there is no convenient way of closing the openings) and feathers will eventually migrate out of the individual squares into adjacent ones in use of the featherbed. This results in an uneven look and diminished performance, which cannot be corrected by fluffing because the feathers cannot be forced back into the squares from which they have migrated.
Hence, all featherbeds with the above variety of construction designs suffer from performance and appearance disadvantages, and the necessity of fluffing maintenance, caused by migration of feathers during use. It would be advantageous if a featherbed construction could significantly prevent/reduce such feather migration resulting from normal use.